Usually parts formed integrally by synthetic resin, the so-called "band clip (or harness clip or belt clamp)", are used in a car as parts for binding wires or pipes (held things) and fitting them to a holding member of a car body panel to hold them. The band clip comprises a lock portion (a buckle) which has a through hole formed an engaging portion (a step portion or a projection) thereon, a band portion which has a tooth elongated from one side of the lock portion and can be engaged with said engaging portion and a stem portion (a leg) formed on the other side of the lock portion. When the band portion is wound around the held things and the stem portion is inserted into a fitting aperture to be engaged therein in the state that the tooth of band portion and the engaging portion of the lock portion are engaged each other by inserting top of the band portion into the through hole, the held things can be fitted to the holding member of the panel.
A band clip disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Showa 58 (1983)-36190, as first example of such prior band clip, is known to those skilled in the art. This band clip is characterize a through hole of its lock portion formed in the inserting direction of a stem portion (in axis direction of a fitting aperture) and insertion of the top of the band portion into the fitting aperture with the stem portion. As second example, a band clip disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Heisei 5 (1993)-43344 is known to those skilled in the art. This band clip is characterize its through hole formed in the direction transversely to the inserting direction of a stem portion and the top of the band portion wound round held things being drew from the side of a lock portion along the upper surface of a panel in the state that the held things are fitted to the panel.
In the first example of the band clip disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Showa 58 (1983)-36190, the top of the band portion is easily deformable and is inserted into the fitting aperture; therefore the top is not rarely caught by the fringe of the fitting aperture and cannot be smoothly inserted into the fitting aperture with the stem portion. Since the width of the band portion of this type of the band clip is limited by the bore of the fitting aperture, modification of the band portion for improving its holding capacity cannot be done freely. Furthermore, in this type of the band portion, rapping direction of the band portion (the direction of band portion's thickness) and rapping direction of the through hole of the lock portion (in the axis direction of the through hole) at moulding are different and so a mould for moulding them is required to be slidable; therefore the productivity of this type of the band portion is not high.
On the other hand, in the second example of the band clip disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Heisei 5 (1993)-43344, since the top of the band portion is not inserted into the fitting aperture and the top of the band portion is in the surface side of the panel when held things are fitted to the holding member of the panel, the rapping direction of the band portion and that of the through hole of the lock portion is in the same direction; therefore the second example has not a fault such as above-mentioned one. But in this type of the band clip, whole lock portion is positioned above the fitting surface of the holding member formed a fitting aperture and so the space between the fitting surface of the holding member and the upper surface of the lock portion, namely, the space between held things and the fitting surface of the holding member, when the held things are fitted to the holding member, is larger than that of the first type of the band clip. More in concretely, in this second type the band clip, the size of the through hole having the engaging portion for engaging band portion passed through the through hole is added to the thickness of the lock portion. For example, if the thickness of the band portion is about 1.5 mm, the thickness of the lock portion of the first type of the band clip is about 3 mm, on the other hand, the thickness of the lock portion of the second type of the band clip reaches a thickness of 6.5 mm.
The band clip that the space between the fitting surface of the holding member such as a panel and held things such as wires is large is extremely adverse for using in a field requiring highly compacted parts arrangement. For example a recent car is equipped with a lot of electrical equipment such as phonographic equipment or navigation equipment and is also equipped with safety equipment such as air bag system. The car is required to have large inside space and so it is extremely important in designing car to save a little space such as back side space of instrument panel or door trim or under space of a carpet.
Since both in the first type of the band clip and the second one the stem portion is flexible in the radius direction and is pressed to the inner surface of the fitting aperture, the lock portion and the stem portion are largely deformed in said radius direction when the held things such as wires or the lock portion is pressed by external force in the radius direction, and so it is not rarely that said pressed stem portion is loosed to come out of the fitting aperture and drop therefrom.
Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a band clip which is convenient to handle and whose degree of the freedom in band portion width designing and productivity are high, furthermore whose lock portion height is low and whose stem portion never drops from a fitting aperture.